The motto for the rising number of American billionaires seems to be “Take and Give.” Last week, about forty American billionaires have pledged to donate at least half their wealth for charity. Warren Buffet has even gone to the extent of donating 99% of his fortune. Bill Gates has pledged a whooping $30 billion.
The sad thing is that Indians, who also have roughly equal number of billionaires as the US if not more, are wary of donations to social causes. People like Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal and Azim Premji along with a few other big names control a quarter of India’s GDP. Still they do not donate as much. One reason could be that they may be grubby and selfish (which I am sure they are not), while Americans have clean fingers and a clear conscience. The other reason could be that India’s wealthy are a new and fledgling class, and need time to evolve a charitable bone. To me, even this argument does not hold. The answer lies elsewhere.
Just to go back 100 years in time, when Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee became the Vice-Chancellor of University of Calcutta (CU), he urged the wealthy class in erstwhile Calcutta to donate generously to establish CU as a premier teaching and research institution as previous to his reign, CU did not have such a reputation. The wealthy class responded and donated huge sums, even by bequeathing their properties in some cases. The reason was they knew that their hard earned money would be put into good public use. They were confident that corrupt officials would not squander the money away. This comfort factor, which is imperative for charity to flourish, is missing in India today.
Our lack of trust in public charity works at multiple levels. First, nobody wants his money being spent for the wrong reasons. One is also uncertain about one’s future and those of one’s dependents. This chokes the oxygen out of philanthropy. Philanthropic functions best in places where public servants are trusted till they are proven guilty. In India, the reverse is true. If the early years of CU can show us why philanthropy was possible in India 100 years ago, the Commonwealth Games fiasco is a prime example of why it would not be even contemplated today.
Hence for the Gates-Buffet factor to work in India, in the form of Ambani-Mittal-Premji magic, it is necessary to foster transparency and cleanliness in public life. For individuals to give to society, society should deserve it first.
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